Screening Log
This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.
April 2006 activity
Total Log Entries: 73
- Adam (8)
- Andrew (0)
- Chet (0)
- Chiranjit (2)
- David (0)
- Eva (0)
- Evan (0)
- Ian (4)
- Jenny (5)
- Katherine (0)
- Leo (15)
- Megan (0)
- Rumsey (18)
- Teddy (0)
- Thomas (6)
- Timothy (0)
- Victoria (0)
Total Comments: 32
- Lady Snowblood (0)
- Lost Highway (6)
- The Ring 2 (0)
- The Proposition (0)
- King Kong (0)
- Club Paradise (3)
- Good Night, and Good Luck. (0)
- Missing (0)
- You Are My Sunshine (1)
- The Passion of the Christ (0)
- Finder’s Fee (1)
- Days of Heaven (0)
- Eat The Document (0)
- The Gladiators (0)
- L.A. Confidential (1)
- Dead Man’s Shoes (0)
- Inside Man (0)
- Rhythms of the World Anthology (0)
- Mr. Arkadin (Corinth Version) (0)
- Thank You For Smoking (0)
- Frenzy (0)
- Pulse (0)
- A Walk Through H (0)
- Bend of the River (0)
- Oh My God! (0)
- The Pity Card (0)
- The Devil’s Rejects (3)
- House of 1000 Corpses (4)
- Clean (0)
- Sex & Fury (0)
- Days of Heaven (0)
- My Grandmother’s House (0)
- They Live (0)
- The Double Life of Veronique (1)
- L’Enfant (0)
- Possible Models (0)
- Thank You For Smoking (0)
- Point Break (0)
- Max Headroom (0)
- Big Time (0)
- Scary Movie 4 (0)
- Wolf Creek (0)
- The Stepfather (0)
- Saw (0)
- The Intruder (0)
- Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (0)
- V For Vendetta (0)
- Match Point (0)
- Jarhead (0)
- A Very Long Engagement (0)
- Gerry (0)
- Brick (0)
- Friends with Money (0)
- Solaris (4)
- Westworld (0)
- Hardcore (0)
- Tenebre (0)
- BMX Bandits (2)
- Cursed (0)
- Rumble Fish (0)
- Condemned to Live (0)
- The Talk of the Town (0)
- Shivers (0)
- The Best of Youth (0)
- Full Metal Jacket (2)
- The Parlor (0)
- Bully (1)
- Lumière (0)
- The Cowboy and the Frenchman (1)
- Welcome To The Jungle (0)
- Return Of The Secaucus 7 (0)
- Wake Up Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie (2)
- 3-Iron (0)
Full Archive
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The Pity Card / USA / 2006
Since their collaboration on the brilliant Mr. Show, David Cross and Bob Odenkirk’s brand of endearing, yet mildly sociopathic humor has found homes in a number of places: the beloved Arrested Development and the somewhat baffling Curious George for Cross; Miller beer ads and indie films for Odenkirk.
As The Pity Card demonstrates, indie filmmaking is a suitable venue for Odenkirk’s slightly more lovable and erudite comedy. Screened in the comedy program at this week’s Brooklyn Underground Film Festival but originally intended as a TV pilot, the short film tracks the fallout of a first date at a Holocaust museum. A patently unromantic plan to begin with, the results worsen when it becomes apparent that this is the date’s first exposure to the history of Nazi-Jewish relations during the Second World War. (“More people should know about this!” declares the comically stereotypical blonde that is Simon’s date.) In an attempt to both comfort his date and better his own prospects, Simon inadvertently uses his status as “survivor” (and hence the titular “pity card”) to get laid.
This sort of comedic grand guignol (especially with the Holocaust-as-punchline hilarity) is by now familiar to viewers of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but Odenkirk and his cast infuse the situation with a surprising amount of credibility. This is no doubt because the short follows two nebbish and mostly sincere twentysomethings, and not the fatuous, rich and semi-famous Brentwood residents of David’s series. But it also helps that Odenkirk adds the right dosages of surrealism, as in an impromptu front-yard wrestling match and a lengthy cataloguing of communicable infections.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: HBO Digital Projection
23 Apr 2006 4:19 PM | Submit Comment